Retail theft is an ongoing problem in retail environments. As retail theft increases, retail profits decrease. As a result, retailers often times must increase the price of merchandise to maintain profitability. Accordingly, retail theft affects retailers and consumers alike, and various loss prevention measures have been employed in various retail environments and retail display systems to reduce retail theft.
One type of retail display system, a pusher system, has been used for some time in various retail markets for facing products, i.e. biasing the products towards the consumer in a neat and organized manner. It is generally accepted that facing products can increase retail sales, and as a result, many retail stores now incorporate pusher systems for various merchandise. A typical pusher system uses a pusher to bias products forward. The pusher is typically biased forward by a biasing element such as a coil spring, connected to a leading edge of a shelf or other structure. Retail products are contained between the leading edge of the shelf or other structure and the pusher so that as the pusher is biased forward, so too are the retail products. Dividers are often used to separate rows of merchandise contained in multiple pusher systems arranged in parallel to one another. As a leading item of merchandise is removed, the pusher biases the row forward, so that the next item is now the leading item.
Another type of retail display system, a gravity fed system, has also been used for some time for facing products. A gravity fed system is similar to a pusher system with the exception that it relies upon gravity to bias merchandise forward as opposed to a pusher. Gravity feed systems are typically located on an angled shelf, and contain merchandise therein in a line or row. As a leading item of merchandise is removed, gravity biases the remaining products forward, so that the next item of merchandise is now the leading item.
Pusher and gravity feed systems, i.e. self facing merchandisers, like many other retail display systems, are subject to retail theft attempts. Indeed, these systems do not ordinarily contain additional security devices or measures, and as a result, products can simply be removed from the systems in a retail theft scenario. This problem is particularly acute where higher value products are contained by the system. In response, many retailers have incorporated additional external security measures.
One such security measure used in the past has been to lock the entire system(s) in a case. When a consumer wishes to remove an item from the system, a store employee must open the case and remove the item for the consumer. Unfortunately, it has been shown that such a configuration can reduce retail sales. Consumers can grow impatient waiting for a store employee to unlock the case when an employee is not readily available. Often times, the consumer will abandon their previously formed intention to purchase the product within the case, as the consumer simply grows tired of waiting.
There exists, therefore, a need in the art for a retail display system that provides additional loss prevention measures without sacrificing consumer access and the sales generated thereby, unlike the systems described above. The invention provides such a pusher system. These and other advantages of the invention, as well as additional inventive features, will be apparent from the description of the invention provided herein.